Chi&;#x02010;square and Contingency Table Analysis

The chi-square procedure is used in at least two ways. It is used in a “goodness of fit” test and in hypothesis “tests of independence”. This chapter discusses both of these uses. The chi-square procedure statistically analyzes the differences among the chi-square data in contingency tables to determine whether the patterns of difference are different enough to be considered statistically significant. Chi-square data are presented in spreadsheet form in rows and columns. Having the data displayed in rows and columns according to the categories of the variables making up the contingency table is helpful to the researcher. In practice, you can treat the data as parametric and perform hypothesis tests. Most critical comparison tables for chi-square use raw score frequencies. Both SPSS and Excel will assist with chi-square analyses although SPSS provides a more thorough summary of findings and is easier to use. The chapter demonstrates both programs using an example.